


no i in team

by violetinfidel



Series: drabbles [4]
Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords
Genre: :), AND THEN I THOUGHT, and i was like yeah i could do just fun happy fluffy stuff, hes got a filthy mouth, how about some nice fresh-out-of-the-dark-world shadow, rating is for shadows language, someone wanted green and shadow bonding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-29
Updated: 2018-05-29
Packaged: 2019-05-15 04:38:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 924
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14783726
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/violetinfidel/pseuds/violetinfidel





	no i in team

“You know you’re one of us, right?”

Shadow glares at him from his perch atop the four-poster (?). “That’s a sad and tired rhetoric, Link.”

“It’s Green.”

“You want to claim title because you’re the  _original_ -” He spits the word like it’s poison- “-I’ll call you Link.”

Green wants to snap at him, but he knows that isn’t going to help anything- he’d rather Vio be doing this, he’s better at not falling for baiting, but with all the bad blood between them it’s better to wait.

“But it’s true,” He says, and it sounds pathetic even to him.

“I’m as much one of you as a wolf’s one of a litter of puppies,” He sneers. “Lemme ask you somethin’, Link. If I’m one of you, why don’t I have the same privileges, huh? Why can’t I wander the castle? Why can’t I be out of the castle walls past dusk? Why can’t I be around anyone that isn’t armed? Why do I have people watching my every step?” He waits for an answer and doesn’t get one. “That wasn’t fucking rhetorical,  _Link_. If I’m one of you how come I’m not treated like it?”

“Well-”

“That’s what I thought.”

“You know why, Shadow.”

“Yeah, I do, so don’t keep coming in here with this bullshit! You wanna come in here and say okay, you’re a lot different and I acknowledge that, wanna offer me something more concrete than a stupid empty lie, then we’ll talk. I’m not _one of you_  and I know that and you know that and so does everyone else in this entire fucking country.” Green thinks he can see tears in Shadow’s eyes, but the light’s so bad he can’t tell for sure, and his glare is so intense that Green’s a little scared to look closely. “I don’t fuckin’ belong here and I’ve got no fuckin’ clue why you even brought me back.”

“You could belong here,” Green suggests, as delicately as he can, and wishes, not for the first time, that he could bring Vio in to deal with this. “With time, I mean.”

Shadow laughs at that, harsh and bitter and not at all sincere. “Right. Like that’s gonna happen.”

“Well, it won’t if you’re acting like…  _This_.”

“You really are just the epitome of bullshit, aren’t you.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“ _You’re one of us_ ,” Shadow spits, in a perfect imitation of Green’s voice, “Well, with  _that_  attitude you’ll  _never_ fit in, you can  _redeem_ yourself.” He scoffs. “Bullshit. All of it. You wanna know where that shit  _works_? It  _works_ if you’re talking to a bully on the playground. It  _works_ if you’re reading a pretty little fairy tale where the  _bad guy_  just didn’t  _know any better_.”

Green is at a loss for words, if he’s being honest. He’d expected hostility, but not like this, hadn’t expected violent rebuttal at every attempt to help. “I’m trying to help you,” He says gently, “We all are-”

“That’s a fucking lie. You think Blue wants to help me? You think your sweet little princess wants to help me? You think Vio wants to help me? You know what I’d give for one fucking shot at that lying piece of shit-”

“Stop,” Green says, firmly, and is wholly and completely ignored.

“And guess  _what_ , bastard, you wanna think you’re Hylia’s little chosen pet, but you made my life a living hell,” He snarls (Green can think of no better words to describe it, later).

“I never did anything to you until you came here-”

“Yes you did! Yes you fucking did! Maybe you don’t know it but my entire life is your fucking fault! You know how  _hard_ it is to look like the  _hero_ where I come from? You know how fucking miserable it is to be the stupid hero’s shadow?” Green starts to speak but Shadow doesn’t let him, points an accusing finger and spits at him to shut his mouth. “You don’t! You don’t and don’t you even try to pretend you know what I had to go through ‘cause of you! I don’t even have my own fucking name because of you, you know that? I had to spend my entire Hylia-damned life literally in your shadow ‘cause that’s what I  _am_.  _You_ lived your life being brought up to be someone, and  _I_  lived my whole life brought up to  _not_ be someone, and from day fuckin’  _one_ I was being raised against  _you_!”

He’s unsure what to say, whether he should, whether he can. It isn’t his fault, he knows, deep down, because it isn’t his fault he was born, but he can’t help but feel bad about it. “Shadow, look-”

“Don’t. I know you’re just trying to pity me and I don’t fucking care, I don’t fucking want it, so you can just fuck off.” Green makes no move to leave so Shadow forces it, melts into the darkness and reappears in front of him and shoves him towards the door, nearly sends him sprawling to the ground. “Get the fuck  _out_ ,” He hisses, and slams the door in Green’s face and locks it.

Green stands there staring at the door for a long minute, dumbstruck. Distantly he feels the little trickle of blood on his neck where Shadow’s claw had nicked him, wipes it with his sleeve. He’s really starting to doubt that anything can be done with him.

Shadow, on the other side, is back in his perch atop the canopy, crying. (Which he vehemently denies later.)


End file.
